


And Turn (The Dazzled Remix)

by heyjupiter



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Twilight Fusion, Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Bruce Banner/Betty Ross, Minor James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-08 09:50:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15927956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/pseuds/heyjupiter
Summary: As one of SHIELD's youngest agents, Natasha is sent undercover as a high school student, accompanied by Agent Clint Barton, posing as her single father. Nat and Clint investigate a potential connection between Howard and Maria Stark's strange group of adopted children and the rash of unusual murders in the nearby woods.Nat expects to find a dangerous cult or human trafficking ring in Forks, Washington. Nat definitely doesnotexpect to find love in the arms of her beautiful, immortal biology lab partner, Pepper Potts, but life's full of surprises.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PhoenixFalls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFalls/gifts).
  * Inspired by [MCU Ficlets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1528295) by [PhoenixFalls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFalls/pseuds/PhoenixFalls). 



> Yep, it's a _Twilight_ AU. I wrote it with the intent that you don't need to have read or watched _Twilight_ to read the story. (But if you're not familiar, and any of the vampire "rules" seem weird to you--that's just _Twilight_ , baby.)
> 
> This is a remix of "And Turn" which is posted as [Chapter 13 of PhoenixFall's MCU Ficlets collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1528295/chapters/17002518). I was deeply inspired by vampire Pepper and...may have gotten slightly carried away here. 
> 
> See end notes for spoilery potential warnings. (I think everything here is within the PG-13 realm of the MCU and _Twilight_ movie canon but I listed a few specific things there just in case!)
> 
> Thanks so much to volunteerfd for beta reading (particularly for helping make this comprehensible to non- _Twilight_ fans!)

"Have a good first day of school, sweetie," Clint said.

"Fuck off," Nat replied.

"That's the spirit!"

Nat rolled her eyes and Clint added, "Perfect. It's really uncanny how much you seem like a jaded, world-weary teenager."

"I _am_ a jaded, world-weary teenager. My parents got divorced and I had to move here from Arizona at the start of my senior year," Nat said, repeating her cover story out loud. School had been in session a month; it wasn't ideal timing, but it had taken time to get their cover identities established. "But at least I have my emotionally distant deadbeat dad here to take care of me."

"Hey, I'm not a deadbeat," Clint protested. "I put $5 for lunch in your backpack."

"Uh huh." Nat gave a small smile. "Thanks, Clint. I'll see you after school."

"Good luck!" he said, and she knew he didn't just mean with her classes. Nat had not gone to high school when she was actually a teenager, but as a 22-year-old fresh out of training, she was one of the few SHIELD agents who looked young enough to pull it off. This was her first assignment--her first real chance to do something good with her life. She hoped she and Clint could get the information they needed quickly. Maybe they'd be out of Forks before winter break, and then she could use her skills somewhere that wouldn't require her to do homework.

She nodded goodbye to Clint, shouldered her backpack, and drove her shitty new-to-her pickup truck to Forks High School. She'd already been to the school once to pick up her class schedule and meet her enthusiastic student welcome guide, Peter Parker, who'd showed her where her locker was and promised to sit with her at lunch.

Her morning went by in a blur. High school turned out to be pretty boring, especially when none of her targets were in any of her first few classes. Finally, lunch came, and, as promised, Peter dragged her over to his table and introduced her to all of his friends. They all seemed like perfectly nice, boring teenagers. They weren't who Nat was here for, but perhaps they could be good information sources for her.

"So you guys are all from Forks?" she asked casually.

"Born and raised," Peter replied.

"We've all gone to school together with the same people since kindergarten," MJ said. "If you've noticed that people seem overly excited to meet you...that's why. No offense, it's just that any fresh blood is super interesting."

"Also, your hair is so great," Liz said.

"Thanks," Nat said. "So you must know the dirt about everybody."

"Oh yeah," Ned said. "Everybody knows everybody's dirt."

"I can't wait to get out of here," MJ said.

"So...what do I need to know to survive Forks High? Who are the mean girls, who are the pervy teachers, where are the parties?" Most of what Nat knew about American high schools, she'd learned from movies. She'd watched a lot of teen comedies as part of the groundwork she'd done to prepare her cover story.

"We don't have any pervy teachers, thank God," Liz said.

"There aren't a ton of parties around here but we'll definitely let you know when we hear about any," Ned said.

"As for the mean girls…" MJ nodded discreetly at a table of extremely glamorous teens. Nat had noticed them as soon as she'd walked in. She probably would have noticed them even if she didn't have a distressingly incomplete file of information about them at home. They were an undeniably good looking bunch with flawless skin and symmetrical features, and all were objectively better groomed and dressed than the rest of Forks High's student body.

The Stark family had attracted the attention of a bored agent at the Seattle field office simply for how _little_ information there was about them. A large, wealthy family had simply appeared in Forks a year ago. They filed their (significant) taxes on time, crossed every T and dotted every I, and by all appearances seemed to be model citizens. Except that nobody could find any trace of them or any of their adopted kids going back beyond the last year, and there seemed to be a correlation between their arrival in Forks and a sharp uptick in brutally murdered hikers in the surrounding forests. 

"Whoa, who are they?" Nat asked, hoping she wasn't overdoing her wide-eyed innocence.

"They're the Starks," Peter said. "Even though only one of them actually has that last name? Howard and Maria Stark adopted a bunch of kids but they all have different last names. And...I don't think they're _mean_ , they're...they just keep to themselves."

"Yeah, they're all kinda like brothers and sisters, but also they're like...dating?" Ned said. "It's a little weird." Nat knew all of this already; it _was_ weird, and it was another part of why she and Clint were here to investigate the Starks. Were they serial killers? Were they child abusers? Were they running some kind of cult? Could it be a child trafficking ring? None of the possibilities seemed to quite make sense--at least not with the amount of data they currently possessed.

"It's really weird. Before you got here, they were the new kids. They moved here like a year ago...Dr. Stark works at the hospital, but he also invented some kind of new vitamin or something, so they're mad rich. Imagine selling out to Big Pharma and then moving to _Forks_ ," MJ said, with a dismissive shake of her head.

Nat made a mental note of that--the exact source of the Stark family income was another question mark in their file. 

"It's like, so nice of the Starks to adopt all those kids though," Liz said. "Tony--he's the white one with the goatee, which you wouldn't think would look good, but it kinda does, right?--and James are such a cute couple. And Betty is nice…."

"James and Betty are the least snobby ones," MJ said. "But they're still pretty snobby."

"Oh, I think they're just shy," Liz said. "Or like...troubled."

Nat could swear she saw the Starks reacting to this with amusement, but they were all the way across the crowded cafeteria. There was no way they could hear anything from Nat's table.

"Who are the others?" Nat asked.

"The ones with their backs to us are Bruce--with the curly hair, I've literally never heard him talk," Liz said. "And Pepper, with the red hair."

Ned and Peter both sighed in unison. "Pepper," Peter said reverently.

MJ rolled her eyes. "Pepper's the only one of them not dating one of her adopted siblings, which means these dummies think they have a chance with her."

"No, we don't," Ned said. 

"She's just...really pretty," Peter said.

At that, Pepper turned around. She seemingly looked right at Nat and winked. And fuck, Ned and Peter were right. Pepper was even more gorgeous in person than she was in her photos, even more gorgeous than the rest of the preternaturally attractive Stark family. But she was also 18 years old and Natasha was currently undercover in Forks to investigate her whole family for potentially running some kind of dangerous murder cult, so that put a damper on any attraction Nat might otherwise be inspired to feel. Natasha lifted her chin in faint acknowledgment of the wink, just in case Pepper was actually looking at her. Pepper smirked and turned away.

Coolly, Nat said, "I see what you mean."

"She's smart, too," Ned said. "She's in our calc class. I wish she'd join academic decathlon."

"They're all smart," Peter said. "But none of them talk much in class, they just always end up on the honor roll."

"They're not going to beat Liz for valedictorian, though," Ned said.

"Oh, stop," Liz said, with a modest wave. "Anyway, they mostly keep to themselves. They don't do any sports or clubs or anything. Speaking of which, what are you interested in doing here at Forks High?"

"We can always use more help with the school newspaper," Peter said enthusiastically.

"That could be fun," Nat said, thinking it could give her a good excuse to be nosy. 

"Really?" Peter asked.

"Really."

"Awesome, our next meeting is Thursday after school, in the computer lab."

"Cool." Then the bell rang, sending students scattering. Nat tossed her greasy pizza napkins in the trash and noticed Pepper dumping a full tray of untouched food into a nearby trash can. She made a mental note of that quirk before heading off to biology; a lot of cults had strict precepts about food. 

None of her new friends were in biology, but the teacher, Mr. Molina, assigned her a seat. Nat settled in at her assigned lab table...and forced herself to keep a neutral expression when Pepper slid in next to her. Pepper didn't do such a good job of keeping a neutral expression--she downright grimaced at Nat. Even though she looked like she'd just smelled something rotten, Pepper's face was still gorgeous.

Nat subtly sniffed herself to make sure she'd put on deodorant that morning. She determined that she smelled like raspberries--she'd shopped at Bath & Body Works to better embody a high schooler. Deciding to ignore the warning on Pepper's face, she extended a hand and said, "Hey, I'm Natalie."

Pepper ignored her hand and said nothing for a moment. Nat slowly retracted her hand. Maybe high schoolers didn't shake hands? Did they fist bump? She thought back and was pretty sure Peter had shaken her hand. Suddenly Nat felt shockingly unprepared for her mission. 

Finally, Pepper said, "Yes. You moved from Arizona, correct?"

"Yes. It's my first day here."

"Well. Welcome, I suppose. I'm Pepper, if you didn't already know."

 _Had_ Pepper somehow heard them talking about her? Or was she stuck up, like the newspaper kids seemed to think? She was right, though--Nat did already know who she was.

"Nice to meet you," Nat said.

"Charmed." Pepper's tone was odd. She didn't quite sound sarcastic, but her facial expression didn't match someone saying "charmed" with sincerity. She had a regal, old-fashioned quality to her voice, and Nat could understand why her classmates thought Pepper was stuck-up. It didn't help anything that instead of jeans and T-shirts like Nat and most of the other kids wore, Pepper was in heels, a pencil skirt and ruffled blouse. She looked like she'd walked into Forks High straight from the set of Mad Men. She looked good.

Mr. Molina briefly introduced Natalie to the class and got everyone set up on their lab assignment, identifying phases of mitosis. As they shared the microscope, Nat learned that Ned had been right--Pepper was smart. And bossy. Under Pepper's direction, they made it through Nat's first ever high school lab assignment with brisk efficiency. 

After they turned in their assignment and received a Golden Onion award from Mr. Molina--Nat wanted to check with Clint, but she did not believe that this was a standard practice in American high schools--Pepper looked at Nat and said, "You did well today."

"Uh, thanks?" Nat said. The thing was, she did feel oddly flattered, though she thought it was odd for a classmate, rather than a teacher, to compliment her schoolwork.

"You're welcome," Pepper said. She turned abruptly and vanished down the hallway. Nat blinked once before pulling out her schedule to check her next class: world history. Her walk to class brought her past the counselor's office. She paused as she recognized Pepper's voice coming from under the door. 

"Aren't there any other sections of biology?" she asked.

"Hmm...there is one, but it would conflict with your AP French class, and there's only one section of that."

"I'll drop French," Pepper said immediately. 

"No, dear, you have a language requirement, and anyway it would be a shame for you to drop French when you're so good at it."

"Je n'ai pas besoin de l'étudier," Pepper muttered.

"Pardon?"

"Never mind. I see that it will have to be endured. Thank you for your time," Pepper said. Sensing that the conversation was about to end, Nat hurried down the hallway so as not to be caught eavesdropping. She'd heard enough; Pepper was trying to transfer out of her biology class four weeks into the semester, after one lab with Nat. That did not bode well for Nat's investigation, and she mentally crossed her fingers that there'd be at least one Stark kid in her next class for her to try her luck with.

Someone was looking out for Nat--when she walked into world history, she spotted two shiny Stark kids, and there was an empty seat next to one of them. Rather than ask the teacher if the class had assigned seats, she walked straight up to her targets and asked, "Is this seat taken?" 

Betty smiled at Nat and said, "It's all yours...Natalie."

"Thanks. My friends call me Nat. You're Betty, right?"

"Yes, and this is Bruce."

Bruce gave her a nod and then looked away. Nat remembered her friends at lunch saying that none of them had ever heard him speak, so he probably wasn't going to be a great source for her investigation. Betty had potential, though. Betty seemed like she wanted to say something else, but then Ms. Jones called the class to order. 

Nat made it through a dry world history lecture without learning anything new about the Russian Revolution, but she had taken the opportunity to covertly study Betty and Bruce. They were also dressed more formally than the other students, though not quite as elegantly as Pepper. Nat noticed that Betty had beautiful cursive penmanship, something she shared with Pepper. It was a small detail, but Nat had learned not to overlook anything. Especially since they knew so little about the Starks, any scrap of information could lead to a breakthrough.

After the dismissal bell rang, Nat was still mentally processing everything she'd learned that day as she walked to her truck, making sure she hadn't left anything out the coded shorthand notes she was typing in her phone to help her write her full report. She was so deep in thought that she wasn't as aware of her surroundings as she usually was--as she was trained to be. 

She didn't realize that a car was careening toward her until she heard screams and looked up. Behind the driver's wheel she saw a panicking kid. Nat had a split second to wonder if someone had cut his brakes, then to realize that the car was really extremely close to her. As it always did in moments of danger, time slowed down for Nat, and she prepared her body to tuck and roll safely out of the way. But before she could start her evasive maneuver, she felt a body slam into hers. 

Nat looked up and saw that Pepper had jumped between Nat and the incoming car. She was shielding Nat's body with her own, and she had one delicately manicured hand on the hood of the car. Incredibly, Nat could see a handprint on the metal. 

"Are you harmed?" Pepper asked. Her body felt surprisingly hard against Nat's. Pepper was slender but she must work out. A lot. And yet she didn't play anysports.

"I'm fine--are--are you?" Nat asked, blinking up at Pepper. Even if Pepper hadn't still been wearing heels, she'd still have at least 5 inches on Nat. 

"Of course _I'm_ fine," Pepper said. "But _you're_ fragile." She stepped back, gently shepherding Nat onto the sidewalk.

"Fragile?" Nat asked, her eyebrows raised. No one had ever called her _fragile_.

"Oh my god, are you guys okay?" The driver had finally gotten out of his car. Nat didn't think she'd met him before. He looked younger, had probably just gotten his license. "I'm so sorry, there was a Gatorade bottle wedged under the pedals."

"That was very careless of you, Tyler," Pepper said, her tone frosty. "You could have killed Natalie."

"Whoa, killed? I mean I wasn't going _that_ fast…" said the kid, who was apparently named Tyler.

Pepper stared at him, and he backpedaled under the force of her glare. "I mean, look, I'm so sorry, seriously, so sorry, do you need to go to the hospital? I'll drive you...uh...I'll call 911? My parents have insurance."

Pepper said, "Perhaps you should be examined, Natalie. Just to be sure."

"No, the car didn't even touch me. _You're_ the one--"

"You're confused," Pepper said decisively. "You've had a traumatic experience and you're remembering it incorrectly."

"Your hand--" Nat looked at Pepper's hands, which looked perfectly fine, still flawlessly manicured. And the hood of the car now looked smooth somehow, showing no sign of the collision.

"You should be checked for head trauma," Pepper said. "My brothers and I will take you to the hospital. Our father works there."

Nat looked over and saw that Tony and James were standing next to her. Where had they come from? She hadn't seen them approach. Nat was sure she hadn't hit her head--hadn't hit _anything_ \--but nothing about this situation was adding up for her.

"No," she insisted. She knew she looked young for her age, but she wasn't confident that a medical professional would buy her as an 18-year-old, and she really didn't want to blow her cover on literally her first day. She did want to meet the adult Starks, but this didn't seem like the right moment. "No, I'm fine. Really. Thank you for your concern."

She pulled her keys out of her backpack and walked toward her truck quickly. She was surprised to hear Pepper's heels clicking behind her. 

" _This_ is your car?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah...I know it's nothing special, but it's mine." In preparing their cover, they'd found the most statistically average car in the region to be an American-made pickup truck that was over 10 years old, and so that was what Nat drove.

"Oh, no, this doesn't look safe at all," Pepper said. "We'll drive you home. You shouldn't drive anyway, not with your head trauma."

"My truck is fine, and it's a short drive. Besides, you had more of a head trauma than I did."

Pepper pursed her lips and said, "Fine. James will drive you and your truck home, and Tony and I will follow you in my car."

Nat hesitated. She knew that Pepper was overreacting, but since she was, in fact, here to spy on the Stark family, she shouldn't pass up the opportunity to spend more time with them. She glanced over at James and Tony.

"It's easier if you just let Pepper have her way," Tony said with a smirk. 

"We don't mind. We'd hate for anything else to happen to you on your first day in Forks," James added. His smile seemed more genuinely friendly than Tony's amused smirk.

"Fine," she agreed. "That would be...nice of you. Thank you."

Pepper flashed Nat a small grin and held out her phone. "Put your number in."

"What?"

"So I can make sure you're alright."

Nat shrugged, projecting her best nonchalant teen vibe. "Okay," she said, and typed her information as a new contact in Pepper's phone.

"You go by Nat?" Pepper asked, studying what Nat had typed.

"Yeah, it's what my friends call me."

"Hmm. I prefer Natalie."

Again, Nat shrugged. "You can call me Natalie."

Pepper nodded. "Take care, Natalie. We'll be right behind you." Nat watched as Pepper and Tony walked across the parking lot to a silver Volvo. The Volvo was parked at the far end of the parking lot, and Nat suddenly realized that none of them had backpacks with them. Had they already been at their car? They'd crossed the parking lot _so quickly_ , when hardly anyone else seemed to have noticed the collision.

To James, Nat said, "I'm really fine, you know."

James laughed. "I'm sure you are, but why don't you give me your keys just in case? Pepper can be...overprotective."

She did, and started directing James back to the modest house she and Clint had rented. She had a lot of questions for James. He was the only black kid in a very pale family, and she wondered how he felt about that. Of course, that seemed rude to ask, but she wondered if he might be more willing to talk about the Starks than some of the other kids. 

James said, "So it's your first day at Forks High, huh?"

"Yep. I guess I know how to make a first impression."

"I bet you've already heard some stuff about our family," James said, his voice carefully even. He spoke less formally than Pepper, but there was still an air of confident command to his voice that most teenage boys lacked.

"I'm just trying to remember where all my classes are, I can't keep up with gossip," Nat sad lightly. "Oh, turn left at the stop sign." 

"Hmm. Yes, you seem like someone who likes to make up her own mind."

Again, Nat was oddly flattered by the weird compliments these elegant teenagers kept giving her. "I'd like to think so," she said. "So do you...do you like living in Forks?"

"It beats the alternative, I suppose."

"The alternative?"

"Being dead in Forks."

"Ha, I guess it does. Oh, turn right here, our place is on the corner. You can park in the driveway."

Pepper and Tony pulled in the driveway behind them. Nat and James got out of her truck, and Nat waved. Pepper nodded back, but made no move to get out of the car. What a strange afternoon.

"Well...thanks again," Nat said awkwardly. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Take care, Natalie," James said. He climbed in the backseat of Tony's car, and the Starks peeled out of the driveway so quickly that Nat almost questioned whether they'd been there in the first place. Maybe she _had_ hit her head. She went inside and started typing up her report for the day, completely mystified about what was going on in Forks.

Of course, Nat knew better than anybody that people weren't always what they appeared to be. She couldn't let her guard down just because the Stark kids had seemed helpful. _Someone_ was killing hikers in Forks. But maybe the kids were victims of whatever the parents were up to? She needed to get closer to the family. Still, as she typed up every weird detail of the day, she felt that she'd made some real progress for her first day.

She had just finished encrypting her status report when Clint came home. She opened her mouth to tell him how weird her day had been, but he said, "They found another body in the woods."


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone was stressed at Forks High. The actual students were stressed about upcoming midterms. The teachers were stressed about their students' stir crazy behavior. Nat was stressed out about her lack of progress investigating the potential murder cult. 

Pepper glided by the newspaper kids' usual cafeteria table. On her tray was a single apple and a bottle of water.

"Wow, she must be starving," Peter said after she passed. Nat had observed that Pepper and the rest of the Stark kids always went through the motions of taking lunches and throwing them away, uneaten. It was unusual for Pepper to have chosen so little. Nat wondered why they didn't just bring lunches from home, or spend their lunch periods in the library. But then, nobody else seemed to have noticed their wasteful routine, not even the student reporters who were nursing crushes on her.

"Um, it's rude to comment on someone's food choices," Liz replied. 

"Besides, you took the last pieces of pepperoni pizza," MJ said. "That apple was probably the only thing left."

Peter blushed and slid a piece of pizza onto MJ's plate. He mumbled, "Sorry. I'm just stress-eating."

"Pizza is brain food," Ned said. 

"Then you guys are going to ace your midterms," MJ said. She took a bite of pizza and said, "Mm, I'm smarter already."

"We're all going to ace our midterms no matter what we eat," Liz said. "Speaking of which, Nat, are you coming to the study sesh at my place after school?"

"Oh, sorry, I can't." 

Liz mock-pouted. "Are you sure? My dad makes really good snacks."

"Yeah, sorry, my dad needs my truck so I have to get home right after school. But thanks for the invite!"

"Ugh, that sucks. Well, I'll try to save you one of his monster cookies, they're the best."

"Thanks," Nat said, feeling a slight pang of guilt. She kind of zoned out for the rest of lunch, half-watching the Stark kids. She had to be missing something major, and people were going to keep dying until she and Clint figured it out. After lunch, she went to biology, where she struggled to understand how her polite, brilliant lab partner might be tied up with something sinister. 

After they breezed through their in-class assignment, Pepper said, "If your dad needs your truck, I'd be happy to give you a ride to school tomorrow."

"He--" Nat blinked. Hadn't Pepper been across the cafeteria when Nat had told that lie to Liz? But she couldn't argue with anything that brought her closer to Pepper. "That would be great, thank you. If you don't mind."

Pepper smiled. "It would be my pleasure. I hate to think of you driving that old thing on icy roads, anyway."

"It hasn't even snowed yet."

"'Yet' being the operative word. It will." Pepper tightened her already-perfect ponytail. Purely for investigative reasons, she wondered what product Pepper used to make her hair look like that. Then Pepper asked, "Would you like to study together for the biology mid-term?"

"Yeah, that would be great!"

"Excellent. If you'd like, I could come over to your house this evening? Or we could go to the library." 

Nat considered her options. She desperately wanted to be invited to the Stark house, but she also didn't want to look like a weirdo who desperately wanted to be invited to the Stark house. "Let's meet at the library. How about tonight at 7?"

"I'll pick you up," Pepper said. "I know you live close to the library, but it's cold out."

"That's...very thoughtful. Thank you."

The bell rang and Pepper said, "I'll see you tonight," before briskly leaving the classroom. 

At 6:55pm, the doorbell rang. Nat was home alone--she'd made Clint take her truck out around town to confirm her story. She opened the door and saw Pepper, looking lovely in her wool peacoat.

"Hey, Pepper, thanks again for the ride," Nat said. She shouldered her backpack and locked the door behind her. 

Pepper nodded. "Of course. I'd hate for you to get frostbite in the name of studying."

Nat laughed--it wasn't _that_ cold--but Pepper didn't. Nat slid onto the smooth leather passenger seat of Pepper's car. It was even nicer on the inside than it looked on the outside, and soft classical music played over the car's powerful speakers. But the heat was on full blast, including the seat warmers, and it was uncomfortably hot in the car. 

"Ha, I definitely won't get frostbite in here," Nat said. She unzipped her down jacket.

Pepper looked at her blankly for a moment and then, perhaps noticing the beads of sweat on Nat's forehead, said, "Oh, I'm sorry, is it too warm?"

"It, um, yeah, if you wouldn't mind turning down the heat?"

"Of course," Pepper said. She turned it down several notches. The car complied almost immediately, blasting cool air out the vents. Nat zipped her coat back up before they made it to the library. She almost wondered if Pepper was being passive aggressive somehow, but she really hadn't seemed to notice the car's temperature either way. Nat filed away this information and gratefully stepped out of the car and into the climate controlled library. They found a table. Pepper opened her bag and pulled out her textbook and notebook, along with an array of flashcards, highlighters, and Post-it flags.

"I feel unprepared," Nat said, pulling out her notebook and pencil. She wasn't used to that feeling.

"I'll share. Oh, and I brought you this," Pepper said, handing Nat a paper bag. "I thought you might want a study snack."

"Oh, thank you!" Nat opened the bag and saw one large peanut butter cookie. "This looks great." She broke the cookie in half and said, "Here, this is huge, you should have half."

"Oh, no, it's for you. I had one at home," Pepper said smoothly.

"I guess I probably shouldn't eat in the library anyway," Nat said. She tucked the cookie in her backpack and wondered, not for the first time, if Pepper had an eating disorder. She didn't look unhealthy, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. She opened her textbook and said, "Um, I guess we should start at the beginning, huh?"

Pepper smiled. "Let's." She opened up her binder and revealed chapter outlines that she'd apparently typed, printed, and 3-hole punched. 

"Wow, you could teach this class," Nat joked.

Pepper's nose crinkled. "I'd rather not."

"What _do_ you want to do? After high school, I mean." 

"Hmm. I--I guess I haven't really thought about it," Pepper said. Nat raised her eyebrows and gestured at Pepper's pile of office supplies.

"Really? Someone as organized as you hasn't thought about what you want to do next year?" Were the Starks some kind of suicide cult? Was Pepper not planning to survive the school year? 

"Oh, well...I mean, college, of course," Pepper said vaguely. "I don't know."

"Where are you going to college, do you think? I'm sure you'll get in wherever you apply."

"I don't know about that," Pepper said modestly. "But I was thinking maybe the University of Alaska?"

"That's far. Won't you miss your siblings?"

"Oh...maybe," Pepper said. "What about you? What will you do after high school?"

"Probably community college in Port Angeles," This answer, like Nat's truck, was carefully crafted to match that of the average Forks High student. Like Nat's truck, it visibly disappointed Pepper.

"Oh, no, Natalie, you're meant for more than that," Pepper said solemnly.

"Thanks?" Nat had no idea what Pepper was basing that on, but it was still nice. "Um, but first we should get started on biology."

"Yes, of course. But let's talk more about your college applications later." Nat watched as Pepper actually wrote a note in her calendar to follow up with her about college. Then Pepper handed Nat a stack of note cards. Their fingertips brushed, and Nat flinched.

"Your hands are like ice!" she said. "Is that why the heat was on so high in your car? You should have said something." They'd been inside the library for long enough that her hands should have gotten back up to room temperature.

"What? No," Pepper said. "No, I'm fine. It's just...um, I have bad circulation."

"Okay…" Nat agreed.

"My father is a doctor, remember," Pepper said. Apparently Nat's skepticism had showed on her face.

"Ha, right. I'm sure he'd know if you were dying."

Pepper laughed. "I'm sure he would. So you see, your concern is misplaced, but thank you."

Nat nodded and looked at the chapter outline. "So...cells."

They made their way through the textbook at an efficient pace. Pepper really was a good tutor, even if Nat was kind of a ringer of a student. She was smart and patient and fun. Nat really hoped she wasn't in a murder-suicide cult.

The library closed at 9pm, and Pepper and Nat had to be kicked out by a librarian. "Didn't you hear the closing announcement?" she asked.

"I'm very sorry, ma'am," Pepper told her contritely. "We were preoccupied with the Krebs Cycle. But it was inconsiderate of us, I know you have to get home to let your dog out."

The librarian sighed as she watched them pack up all their study accessories. "Well, I suppose Fletcher will be okay if he has to wait a few more minutes. It _is_ nice to see young people actually using the library for studying, instead of canoodling."

"Oh, do you see much canoodling here?" Nat asked with a straight face.

"More than I'd like. Good night, ladies," the librarian said firmly.

Nat and Pepper bit back their laughter until they made it out to the parking lot.

"Do you come to the library often?" Nat asked, wincing when she realized it sounded like a pickup line.

"No," Pepper said. "We have a lot of books at home."

"Oh. How did you know the librarian had a dog?"

"Oh...she just seemed like a dog person."

"Right."

Once inside Pepper's car, Nat took it upon herself to set the heat at a reasonable human temperature. "Is this okay? Are you comfortable?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. Oh, you mean the heat? Yes, it's fine."

"What did you think I meant?"

"What?"

"Never mind."

Pepper turned up the radio, and they listened to the music on the short ride back to Nat's house. 

"Thanks again, for the ride and everything," Nat said.

"You're welcome. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at 7:45?"

"Perfect. Thanks." 

Nat opened the car door and started to get out, when Pepper said, "I'm really glad Mr. Molina made us lab partners."

"Me too. Good night."

"Good night."

Pepper stayed in the driveway, waiting until Nat got inside safely. Nat ate the cookie Pepper had given her while she added all of her observations from the evening to the case file she was developing. Writing it all out, she felt no closer to having reached any kind of conclusion about what the Starks might be doing in Forks. But she was enjoying getting to know the Starks, or at least one of them, much more than she had anticipated.


	3. Chapter 3

"I know I don't need to tell you to be careful, but...be careful," Clint said.

Nat rolled her eyes. "You're getting way too into this dad thing. I can take care of myself."

"I know you don't think Pepper is a killer, but the fact remains that _someone_ or _someones_ are draining hikers of their blood out in those woods."

"You think I can't take down a teenage girl if I need to?" Nat asked. No matter how unexpectedly tall and strong and fast Pepper was, she still hadn't had any of the training that Nat had had.

"I'm sure you can. But you've got your tracker just in case? You know there's not good cell signal in the forest."

Nat reached down and tapped her left boot. "Right here." She looked at her phone. "Pepper's going to be here in like two minutes, I'm going to wait out front."

"You're not going to introduce your date to your dad?"

" _Clint_."

"Fine. And don't forget water. Gotta hydrate."

Nat silently held up a Nalgene full of water and went to sit on the front steps. Pepper's silver Volvo pulled into the driveway at exactly 9:00am, and Nat hopped into the front seat. She'd spent a lot of time in the front seat of Pepper's car since midterms--most days, Pepper insisted on giving Nat a ride to school, citing concerns about the safety of Nat's truck. Pepper also made frequent biology study dates with Nat at the library, although Pepper clearly didn't need any help with her assignments. 

Despite their burgeoning friendship, this hiking trip was the first time Nat and Pepper had really spent time together outside of school activities. Most weekends--and often on school days, when the weather was nice--Pepper and her family went on camping trips. It was suspiciously wholesome, and Nat hoped that being invited on this hiking trip with Pepper might be the first step toward being invited to go camping with the family. Or at the very least, to see their house. Peter and Ned had told her rumors about the house--how Dr. Stark had designed it himself, and it was super high tech and modern, but also in the middle of the woods, so far in that they couldn't get mail delivered.

"Good morning," Pepper said. "Oh, you brought water. Good. Hydration is important."

"That's exactly what my dad said!"

"Hmm. Well, he's right, too."

"So where are we going?"

Pepper hesitated for a moment. "It's a place where my family often goes."

"Oh cool. Are they coming today, too?" Nat attempted nonchalance, though she was thrilled. This seemed like real progress in her investigation.

"No, it's just us. Is--is that alright?" Nat was surprised to hear that Pepper sounded slightly less sure of herself than usual. Clint had just been teasing her about this being a date, but...what if Pepper thought it was? Well, Nat would cross that bridge when she got to it.

"Yes, of course. I was just wondering."

Pepper smiled and turned up the radio. She always listened to the local NPR classical music station, and Nat always gently teased her about being a thousand years old. Truthfully, Nat preferred it to most of the popular music of the day. As they drove out of town, Pepper told Nat what she considered to be fun facts about Dmitri Shostakovich. Pepper was quiet at school, but alone with Natasha, she often produced spontaneous mini-lectures about topics that were interesting to her. It could have been annoying, but Nat was a curious person by nature and she usually did learn something new. Besides, Pepper's enthusiasm was cute.

"His music is so complex and beautiful. Can you believe the Soviet government formally denounced him _twice_ , during World War II and again after the war was over? The first time they said his music wasn't patriotic enough, and the second time they said his 9th symphony was inappropriately cheerful, given the horrors of the war that had just ended."

"Oh, pretty much everyone worth listening to has been officially denounced by the Soviet government at some point or another," Nat said lightly.

Pepper gave a rare laugh at that, although Nat hadn't exactly meant it as a joke. Then she returned to her Shostakovich lecture. She was chattier than usual. Pepper's tells were subtle, but Nat knew her well enough to recognize that Pepper was definitely nervous about something.

A small alarm went off in Nat's head when Pepper pulled her car to the side of the road in a seemingly random spot. Nat wasn't much of a hiker, but she'd seen other trailheads before--even if they didn't have a parking lot, they usually had some kind of signage. There was nothing here to distinguish this spot from any other point in the middle of nowhere.

After they got out of the car, Pepper said, "Are you okay?"

"Of course," Nat said immediately. "Just--what trail is this? I don't see any signs."

"It isn't a public trail, but it's very well-maintained. Don't worry, I wouldn't take you anywhere that wasn't safe. But it's very private, and beautiful."

Despite Pepper's claims, _very private_ sounded like _very murdery_ to Natasha. Still--she couldn't find it in herself to be afraid of Pepper.

"I can't wait to see it," Nat said brightly.

The hike was long and difficult. Nat found it very hard to keep up with Pepper's pace, even though Nat was in objectively great shape. Pepper kept making a point of stopping to point out flowers or spiderwebs or rocks, but Nat was sure that Pepper was just trying to give Nat some breaks to catch her breath. Pepper also kept offering Nat trail mix out of her backpack, although Pepper never ate any herself. Even without the added boost from almonds and M&Ms, Pepper certainly had more than enough endurance for this hike.

They hiked uphill for over two hours and finally arrived at the edge of a beautiful mountain clearing. The sun shone over a field of blue wildflowers, a welcome change of pace from the unmitigated wall of green they'd come through.

"Wow," Nat said.

"Do you like it, Natasha?"

Nat froze. "What?"

"Isn't that your name? Natasha?"

Nat laughed, trying to play it off like a joke. "C'mon, we've known each other for months now. You know it's Natalie."

"Hmm," Pepper said. "Well, I suppose I can't blame you for keeping your secrets. I certainly have mine."

There was a glint in Pepper's golden eyes that gave Nat pause. She reached a hand in her pocket and stroked her Swiss Army knife to reassure herself. Even if she'd been made, even if a serial killer had lured her to the top of a mountain, she was still Natasha Fucking Romanoff and she would be fine.

Clint was going to be very smug about this, though.

"I know you've come to Forks to study me," Pepper continued. "Me and my family. Have you found anything interesting about us?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about," Nat said. "My parents got divorced, and my dad got a new job--"

"Agent Clint Barton is not your father."

Well, _that_ wasn't good. Clint and Nat had both been using the last name Rushman. "Natasha" could have been a fluke but...Pepper clearly knew a lot. Nat wasn't sure what the best tactic was here. If she played her cards right, maybe she could still get some good intel out of Pepper.

"So I'm adopted," Nat said lightly. "Like you."

Pepper shook her head. "You're not like me at all." She slowly unbuttoned the flannel shirt she was wearing and tied it around her waist, revealing a lacy tank top.

Nat was now even more confused. 

Pepper slowly, deliberately stepped out into the clearing. As soon as the sunlight hit her skin, she started _sparkling_. She looked like she was made out of diamonds. She looked like the most beautiful thing Nat had ever seen.

"What the fuck?" Nat asked. She'd had a lot of theories about the Stark family, but none of them involved...alien glitter skin? 

Pepper ran back toward Nat. Nat had noticed that Pepper and her siblings had a tendency to seemingly appear out of nowhere, but she'd never actually seen Pepper run before. It was a short distance but she ran so fast she literally blurred. Out of the sun, her skin returned to its usual alabaster--still lovely, but not otherworldly.

"Is this helpful for your investigation?" Pepper asked. Her tone was...defiant.

"I don't understand," Nat said honestly.

Pepper clicked her tongue. "Tell me, Natasha, what do you know about me?"

"You're...smart. And kind. And protective. You're fluent in French. You're classy, but you don't take shit from anybody."

A faint smile played on Pepper's lips but she said, "What else?"

"You're...you're a really good driver?"

Her tone patient, as if she were speaking to a small child, Pepper said, "I'm impossibly fast and strong. My skin is invulnerable. My flesh is cold. I'm a hundred and eight years old."

"You--what?"

"I'm a vampire, Natasha."

"What?" Nat repeated. But she thought back to what she knew about Pepper. She never seemed to eat food. She was always cold. She often spoke in an oddly formal, old-fashioned manner. She...had sparkling skin, which Nat had never thought of being a vampire thing, but it was definitely something weird and maybe inhuman. And then there was the fact that the dead hikers were always found completely drained of blood….

Pepper said, "It's a myth that sunlight kills vampires. Instead it does this to us." She ran back into the sunlight, again at that superhuman speed, and stood there, beautifully glittering in the light.

Nat definitely had not prepared for _this_. Were vampires real? Even if they weren't, Pepper was obviously physically enhanced somehow. Assuming she _was_ a vampire, if anything Nat knew about vampires was true, the Swiss Army knife in her pocket was not going to be useful. Nat looked back at the trail, though based on what she'd seen, she knew she couldn't outrun Pepper. She carefully twisted her left boot into the ground, activating the distress signal in her boot, although she also knew that Clint couldn't make it up here from town in time. Shit, maybe she shouldn't have called him at all--she wished she could get a longer message to him, but she didn't think she'd have time or cell signal. But maybe she could get Pepper to say a little bit more, and maybe the recording device in her boot would pick it up.

"So...what, you brought me here so I'd have a scenic overlook for my death?" Nat asked. Even with what she'd seen and heard, she still didn't quite believe Pepper would kill her. 

Pepper tilted her head in confusion. She ran back to Nat's side and said, "Your--oh, no, Natasha. I brought you here to--" and then Pepper bent down and kissed her.

Nat kissed her back for a second before snapping out of it and taking a step back. Stupidly, she said, "Whoa, Pepper, if you--you know I'm not really in high school--"

Pepper laughed. "Well, I'm not really a teenager either. If anything, I'm too old for you."

"Well--but--" Nat paused, unable to think through her argument. Pepper was incredibly distracting in that tank top, even without the glitter skin.

"Even if I can't read your mind, I know the signs of human attraction. It's okay, Natasha. I've wanted you from the first moment I saw you. I know you feel the same."

Nat's thoughts were reeling. She had a lot of questions, but she decided to stick with her mission and ask, "Has your family been killing all the hikers out here?"

Pepper shook her head, a look of fond exasperation on her face. "I do admire your dedication to your job, even if you've been completely off track."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"My family and I, we're vegetarians."

"Vegetarians?"

"Our little joke, of course we cannot be vegetarians in the truest sense of the word. But we only drink animal blood, never _human_. We've been trying to protect the forest here, and the humans of Forks."

"Okay...protect it from what?" For the moment, Nat had decided to believe Pepper. Just because she and Clint hadn't considered a supernatural explanation for their mission didn't mean it couldn't be true. And, honestly, the Starks being immortal vampires did explain a lot of their weird behavior.

"Well...not all vampires are vegetarians. In fact, my family is the minority."

"...I see," Nat said, although she wasn't sure that she did. "You're saying… _other_ vampires are attacking Forks?"

"Yes," Pepper said. "I fear that my family has attracted our enemies to Forks and its surrounding areas. We've been doing our best to protect our territory, and the humans who live here, but we also want to prevent a vampire war. At least, until we're sure we'd be able to win one."

"A...vampire war. Yeah, that sounds bad," said Natasha, who had only been trained to deal with mundane threats like international assassins, drug smugglers, and domestic terrorism.

"Yes. It would be devastating for your kind. I--I shouldn't be here with you now, actually. For humans to even know of the existence of vampires...it goes against our most basic laws. The Volturi--they're kind of like the vampire royal family--actually have no prohibitions on killing humans. They _do_ forbid vampires to reveal our existence to humans."

"Okay. So...why are you telling me?"

Pepper looked exasperated. "Because...because I care about you. I wanted you to know the truth. And...I thought you could help us. We could help each other." She gently put her hands on Nat's shoulders. Then she looked up sharply.

Nat turned and followed Pepper's gaze. "Clint?" she asked.

He was up in a tree with an arrow drawn on Pepper. "Hey. You'd better take a step away from Nat if you don't want a stake through the heart."

Pepper laughed. "A stake through the heart? How superstitious."

An arrow flew and landed at Pepper's feet. "I'm serious. The next one won't miss."

"Clint, come down from there. This isn't what you think," Nat said.

"Oh? You're telling me she's _not_ a goddamn vampire?"

"...just come down," Nat said. "How'd you get here so fast, anyway?"

"He's been following us at a distance all morning," Pepper said quietly.

Nat must have been really off her game not to have noticed.

Clint jumped down from his tree. He glowered at Pepper and nocked another arrow.

"Let's all...calm down," Nat said.

"I'm extremely calm," Pepper said.

"Me too," Clint said.

"Okay...great." Nat crossed her arms. "Then let's all...calmly discuss...um, the impending vampire war?"

"I suppose we'd better go back to my house. My family will need to be involved with the discussion, and it will save us the trouble of repeating everything later," Pepper said.

"Back to your house, full of six more vampires? I'm not sure I like those odds," Clint said.

"Oh please," Pepper said. "No offense, but if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already. I very much _do not_ want to kill you, so please try not to provoke me."

"He's very provocative," Nat said. 

"I'd like to see you try," Clint said, but he did lower his bow.

"Wait," Nat said, thinking back to Clint's _stake through the heart_ threat. "You followed us? You brought wooden arrows? Clint, you knew they were vampires?"

"I…I've had some suspicions," he admitted.

"And you didn't tell me?!"

"I--c'mon, vampires? It sounds crazy. I wanted to be sure before I said anything."

"Not cool, Clint!" Nat said.

Pepper looked into Nat's eyes and asked, "Do you trust me?"

Nat considered for a split second before deciding to go with her gut. She turned and flashed her eyes at Clint, silently asking him to trust _her_ , before turning back to Pepper and replying, simply, "Yes."

Pepper gave her a dazzling smile. "Agent Barton, you can meet us back at the house. I know you know where it is. You're not as subtle as you think you are." Then she gracefully picked Nat up in her arms in a bridal carry and took off through the forest at a literally superhuman speed.

Nat had driven motorcycles and piloted small crafts and had even, on one occasion, gone hang gliding. But she'd never felt anything like the rush of being carried in a vampire's arms through the forest. The terrain was difficult, and Nat knew a collision with a tree at this speed would likely crack her skull. But Pepper never faltered, and Nat never felt like she was in danger. It was _fun_. And in a matter of minutes, they'd arrived at the gleaming Stark house. Pepper gently helped Nat back to her feet at the front door.

After having seen Pepper's display in the meadow, Nat thought she understood why she'd never been invited over before. The house was almost entirely windows. It was beautiful, a gleaming, modern structure in the middle of the woods.

"Do all of your family members sparkle, or is it just you?" Nat asked.

" _That's_ what you want to know?" Pepper asked, amused.

"It's...one of the things I want to know."

"Yes, we all do. That's why we moved to the Pacific Northwest, actually--this region has the fewest annual sunny days on average."

"What a fun fact. So you just...sparkle in the sunlight? You don't ever, you know, burst into flames?"

"No, of course not. Most of the stories about vampires are...wildly exaggerated, if not altogether manufactured. But let's go inside."

As soon as the door opened, a robotic voice with a British accent said, "Welcome home, Pepper."

"Thanks, Jarvis."

"Jarvis?" Nat asked.

"He's the AI who runs our house. Tony designed him, based on the butler his family had last century. Jarvis, this is my friend...Natasha."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Natasha."

"Um, likewise," Nat said, casting her eyes around for any visual representation of the AI to interact with.

"He doesn't have a face, if that's what you're looking for. But he can control the house by voice command. C'mon, I'll give you a tour."

She led Nat first into a library, where Bruce and Betty were sprawled out on a sofa, each engrossed in a book. 

Betty hopped up from the sofa with a surprised look on her face and said, "You're earlier than I thought! Nat, welcome!"

"You don't know _everything_ , Betty," Pepper said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Nat asked. She felt a sudden flash of deep unease. She crossed her arms and focused on keeping her breath even. Nat trusted her gut, and suddenly something felt very _off_. She discreetly tried to evaluate the room for threats--aside from the obvious of three stylish vampires.

"Bruce, stop it," Betty said, though as far as Nat could tell, he was just sitting on the couch.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Suddenly, Nat felt fine.

"What--?" 

"I'm so sorry, I haven't explained everything properly," Pepper said.

"Okay…"

"Why don't we sit down?" 

Nat nodded, and sat on the edge of a high-backed wooden chair. Pepper sat beside her and held out her hand. After a moment's hesitation, Nat took it. It was cold to the touch, but not unpleasant. Pepper and Betty both smiled.

"So. All of us vampires have some of the same abilities, which I think you're familiar with. We're fast and strong, our skin reacts to sunlight, we don't require sleep."

"And you drink blood."

"Well, yes, and that," Pepper said impatiently.

"You did tell her we're vegetarians?" Betty asked anxiously.

"Yes, of course," Pepper said. "Anyway, in addition to those traits...some vampires end up with _additional_ abilities."

"Like turning into a bat?" Nat asked.

Bruce let out a snort of laughter.

Pepper shook her head. "No, that's another Hollywood invention. But, for example, Betty can see the future."

"I can see future _s_ , plural," Betty said. "Possibilities. But I almost always see us becoming great friends, Natasha, and I can't wait. I'm so glad you know the truth about us now."

"Right," Nat said.

"And Bruce can sense other people's emotional states, and also manipulate their emotions."

" _Oh_ ," Nat said, understanding her abrupt anxiety from earlier. 

"I'm sorry," Bruce said softly. "I--I can't always control it."

Betty squeezed his hand and said, "Bruce is the newest member of our family. He's still adjusting."

"Well, no harm done," Nat said with a shrug, although truthfully she was unnerved by his ability. Nat was great at controlling her face and body language to hide what she was feeling, but she didn't know how to keep a vampire empath from knowing how she felt. And that anxiety spike he'd given her--if that was on accident, she didn't like to think about what he could do if he were really trying. That ability could be viciously weaponized. "What about you, Pepper?"

Pepper paused before answering, "I can read minds."

Nat flinched. If Bruce's gift was bad news for Nat, Pepper's was _terrible_.

Pepper gave a rueful nod and said, "I know, it makes people uncomfortable. But, Natasha--I can't read _yours_."

"What?" 

"It's true," Betty said. "She can't. It's been _very_ irritating for her."

"You can read _everyone_ 's mind, except for mine?" Nat suddenly remembered something Pepper had said earlier, in the meadow. _Even if I can't read your mind…_ She'd assumed it was just a turn of phrase, but apparently Pepper had meant it literally.

"Well...I've never encountered anyone else whose mind I couldn't read," Pepper said. "I suppose I haven't tried _everyone_."

"I can't sense your emotions, either," Bruce said.

"But you just…"

Bruce shrugged. "I--it's like Betty said, I can't always control it, I think I was just projecting my own...but I didn't realize how it was affecting you."

"Wait, that was how _you_ feel?" Nat asked. She'd hated feeling that terrible anxiety for even a moment. Maybe he'd heightened it somehow.

Betty put a protective arm around Bruce. "He hasn't had an easy path." 

Bruce cast his golden eyes at the floor.

"I'm sorry," Nat said. She felt like she should be taking notes, but what would she do with this information? She didn't think Director Fury would believe this story if she told him. But it didn't matter what anyone else would believe; all that mattered was keeping the people of Forks safe. After an uneasy silence, she turned to Pepper and said, "So you really can't read my mind?"

"You find it harder to believe that I can't read your mind, than to believe that I _can_ read others?"

"Well--it would explain how you knew so much about Clint and me. I guess you can read _his_ mind?"

Pepper nodded. "I--I usually try _not_ to read minds, but I've just been so curious about you."

It was odd that she could read Clint's mind, though. Nat had theorized that maybe some of her training had protected her, but Clint had had most of the same training as she had. But not all of it; perhaps something from her childhood training lingered in her mind.

"You never even met Clint before today, though, did you?"

"My ability works from some range," Pepper admitted.

"You would make a hell of an agent," Nat said appreciatively. " _That's_ what you should do after high school."

Pepper smiled. "I'm not sure that's in the cards for me, but thank you."

"What about Tony and James? And your, um, parents?"

"What about them?"

"Do they have special abilities too?"

"Not as such," Pepper said. "Not every vampire does. And Tony is sensitive about it, so please don't ask him. But he and James are both exceptionally smart--they were even before they had decades to devote to their research."

"That's interesting. Do you know why that is? That not every vampire gets an additional ability?"

"Howard has a theory that all the traits we had as humans are amplified when we change," Betty said. "Like, when I was a human, I used to have...hunches, I guess you'd call them. I think I was always a little more aware of life's possibilities than the average human. And I think Bruce must have been a very sensitive human." She squeezed his knee.

"And I was always particularly perceptive, if I do say so myself," Pepper said with a head tilt.

"For awhile, Howard was researching a way to activate any latent abilities a vampire might have," Betty said. 

"But not anymore?" Nat asked.

"He decided some things were better left alone," Bruce said.

"Oh," Nat said. There was clearly more of a story there, but Bruce's tone invited no further questions. She decided not to push it at the moment. "What about Howard and Maria?"

Pepper replied, "Nothing like what we have, but Howard is...I'm not sure how to put it?"

"He has extraordinary self-control," Bruce said.

"Oh. Right. Because he works at a hospital...and he's a vampire," Nat said. She was usually quicker on the uptake, but she was new to all of this supernatural stuff. "Wow. So you guys really...um…"

Pepper cut her off and said, "Let's continue our tour."

"Oh. Sure. Sorry," Nat said, assuming she'd breached vampire etiquette somehow. 

"We'll see you around," Betty said brightly. Bruce was already buried in his book.

It took Nat a moment to place the smell wafting down the hallway. "Huh. So I guess garlic doesn't repel vampires either?"

"Not at all."

"But do you eat it?"

"Maria is cooking for you and Agent Barton. Italian. She likes to watch the Barefoot Contessa, she's been excited to have someone to feed."

"Oh. That's...so nice."

"You'd better save your judgment until you try her food. She hasn't eaten anything in a century, who knows what her cooking tastes like?"

"Do you miss it? Food, I mean? Or is--sorry, is this rude to talk about? I just have so many questions."

"It's fine. I used to miss it, a long time ago." Pepper said. "But now, I--I don't know, do you miss eating baby food?"

"I guess not. But blood seems like it would all taste the same?"

"No...it's different, depending on the source. Nat, the thing is, you--your blood--you smell--" Pepper was normally so polished and precise. Nat wondered what could be so hard for her to say, after everything that had already been said. Finally, Pepper said, her voice tinged with shame, "Delicious. You smell like the most delicious food I can imagine. More than any other human. More than anything."

"...oh," Nat said. "Um."

"That was why I tried to avoid you at first, I--the temptation--but I couldn't."

Nat remembered her first day at Forks, when Pepper had tried to transfer out of biology class. "Wow," she said. "Thanks?"

"I'm sorry. I--I'd understand if you never wanted to see me or my family again," Pepper said miserably. "But I really do have my...thirst under control. I'd never hurt you, Nat, I could never."

"I believe you," Nat said. "You've had a thousand chances, if you were going to. Besides, how am I supposed to fight a vampire war without you?"

Pepper smiled. "Well. We still have some time before Agent Barton will arrive, and I suppose we shouldn't start planning anything without him. So, I could show you Tony's workshop, or...I could show you my bedroom?" She touched Nat's hand gently and gave her a hopeful look.

Nat swallowed. She was never supposed to get personally involved with a mission. Sure, she could use her feminine wiles to get information, but...that wasn't what this was. But then, Pepper had apparently broken vampire law to tell Nat the truth about herself, so it was really only fair that Nat break a rule in return.

She put her other hand on top of Pepper's and said, "I'm sure Clint would be disappointed if I saw the workshop without him, so we'd better start with your bedroom."

Pepper's gorgeous smile widened, and she practically dragged Nat up the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

Nat heard a soft, persistent beeping. She struggled to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt so heavy. Eyes shut, she stretched out her arm and fumbled around in the dark, hoping to turn off the alarm. She felt a cold touch on her hand and heard Pepper whisper, "Shh. You need your rest."

"Okay," Nat agreed. Or she tried to; she wasn't sure if the word actually made it out of her lips. She drifted back into unconsciousness, feeling reassured by Pepper's presence.

The next time she woke up, it was easier to open her eyes. She saw that she was in a hospital bed, which made some sense. There were a lot of flowers in the room. Were they all for her? That made less sense. 

"Natasha! How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" Pepper asked immediately.

"Hmm," was all Nat managed.

"Howard said you would be thirsty. Do you want some ice water?"

"Yes. Please."

Pepper held a bottle up to Nat's lips. Nat took a few careful sips. It tasted amazing. She hadn't realized how dry her mouth was until it wasn't anymore.

"Oh, Natasha, I'm so sorry you were hurt. I promised you wouldn't be hurt."

Nat's head was full of cotton. She was trying to remember how she'd gotten hurt, but it was so hard to think of anything outside the hospital room.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," Clint said. "Besides, Nat's a big girl. She knew what she signed up for."

"Hey, Dad." Nat's eyes focused briefly on Clint. He had a black eye and some bandages visible on his arms, but overall, he seemed okay. He wasn't hooked into an IV, anyway.

"I...I'll leave you two alone," Pepper said quietly. 

Nat reached her hand out toward Pepper's and said, "No, stay."

"She hasn't left your side since you got checked in," Clint said.

"Oh--oh, do you need…?" Nat asked.

"No, I'm fine. I'll stay as long as you want me here."

Nat smiled. Then she looked back at Clint. Details were starting to come back to her. She remembered the other vampires, with their blood-red eyes. They'd been strong and vicious and terrible, nothing like the golden-eyed Starks. But they'd had to be strategic about how they fought them, lest they call the attention of the Volturi, the ruling body of the vampires. 

"Hey. Did we do it?"

"We did."

"All of it?"

"Everything went according to plan," Clint said.

"Except for the part where you got hurt!" Pepper said.

"That was actually part of the plan," Clint said.

"I was the bait," Nat remembered aloud. The Volturi didn't prohibit vampires from feeding on humans, but their arcane laws allowed one coven to protect their possessions from another encroaching coven. Nat's apparently irresistible blood, laid claim to by the Stark coven, had been enough to draw Obadiah's coven into an acceptable fight.

Pepper crossed her arms. "I can't believe I agreed to that plan."

"I don't think you ever agreed to it, actually, but Nat's pretty stubborn," Clint said.

"It's my job. We had to...to protect people. Did anyone else get hurt? Clint?"

"Oh, I got a little banged up, but you got the worst of it. _Everyone else_ is functionally immortal, so no, they're fine," Clint said. 

"But--" Nat said. They'd been fighting another coven of vampires, who were _also_ functionally immortal.

"We'll debrief later," Clint said. "But everyone's dead who should be dead, and everyone's fine who should be fine."

"Except you, Natasha," Pepper said reproachfully.

"I'm fine," Nat sad. She squinted down at her body. "What's wrong with me, anyway? I can't feel anything."

"Yeah, they gave you the good drugs," Clint said.

Pepper handed her a plastic control unit and said, "You can get more if you press this."

"I want less."

"That's my girl," Clint said.

"There's no reason why you should feel pain," Pepper said.

"I need to--the drugs make me...too out of it."

"It's okay to be out of it right now," Clint said. "You've earned a little R&R."

"My family and I are watching out for you. And Clint," Pepper said. "You can rest."

"Okay," Nat said. "I'll just close my eyes for a minute...but wake me up if anything happens."

"I will," Pepper said, with a gentle squeeze of Nat's hand. "Sleep well."

And, under Pepper's watchful gaze, Nat did. When she woke up again, she thought that her plea for less drugs had been heard. Her mind didn't feel quite so fuzzy, and her body felt more pain. Her face must have registered it, because Pepper offered her the control for the IV drip again.

"I'm fine," Nat said. "It's nothing I can't handle."

Pepper shook her head and wordlessly put the control down on the bed, within Nat's reach. "You're so brave."

"It's my job," Nat said again. 

"You were brave to take that job, then."

"I had to. I had red in my ledger."

"What?"

"I...nothing." The drugs made Nat's tongue move too freely. She had to get them out of her system.

Pepper studied her closely. "I wish I could read your mind."

"I'm glad you can't."

"I guess I understand why you don't trust me. I couldn't keep you safe from Obadiah."

"What? No, that's not…" Nat sighed. "Of course I trust you. I'm just...is there any more water?"

"Yes! Of course." The distraction worked, and Pepper scrambled to help her drink. She'd finished most of a bottle when Dr. Howard Stark walked into her room.

"Ah, Ms. Rushman," Howard said, with an amused quirk to his lips. "Glad to see you up. How do you feel?"

"Fine. When can I go home?"

Howard smiled. "Maybe tomorrow. You've had some pretty severe injuries, and we'd like to keep you under observation."

Nat scoffed. "I've been hurt way worse than this. What is this, like...a broken ankle, a couple of broken ribs, and...maybe a concussion?"

"Well, yes. More or less. You also lost a fair amount of blood."

Nat followed his eyes to her bandaged wrist. Now that she was focused on it, she realized it did actually feel different from other injuries she'd received. It was numb, but it also burned. She lightly touched it over the bandage and winced. "Is this…?"

Softly, Howard said, "Obadiah bit you. We cleaned the venom out of the wound before...before you were changed. It will leave a scar, I'm afraid."

"A distinctive scar, I bet. Just what I need," Nat muttered.

"Maybe it's a sign that you should retire and find something less dangerous to do," Pepper said.

"I'm sure you'll be able to cover it with makeup if you need to," Howard said. His bedside manner was very soothing. He checked her vital signs and made some notes on a clipboard. "You look like you're making great progress, though. You're a fighter. Are you hungry?"

Nat thought about it and shrugged. The pain and the drugs were fighting in her stomach. 

Howard's smile dimmed. "Are you nauseous? Sometimes the painkillers can cause that. We can give you something to counteract the nausea, and something simple like applesauce."

"How about if I just wait until this morphine is out of my system and then eat a cheeseburger at home?"

"You really do have to stay here overnight for observation," Howard said firmly.

"I'll make sure she gets something to eat," Pepper said.

"I'm sure you will," Howard said. "Well, Ms. Rushman, it seems like you're on the mend, and I know you're in good hands with Pepper. But don't hesitate to use the call button if you start to feel worse, or you decide you want more pain medication."

"I won't, thanks."

Howard bent his head and whispered something to Pepper, too low and fast for Nat to understand. It was unfair.

"That's not fair," she said aloud.

"You're right. I'm sorry," Howard said. "I was just giving Pepper a few more instructions to help her look out for you."

"I don't think Pepper needs any more instructions about that."

"I suppose not," Howard said amiably. "Take care. I'll check on you in a few hours."

After he left, Nat said, "What did he say about me?"

"He was just telling me symptoms to watch out for, like if your pupils change size or you seem to have difficulty speaking."

"Oh."

"You've really been hurt more badly than this before?" Pepper asked.

"Huh?"

"You said that earlier."

"Oh...yes," Nat said. "I...this isn't my first mission."

"I thought you just finished training? Isn't that what Clint said? Oh...maybe he only thought it. Sorry."

"Well. Okay. It's my first mission with SHIELD. But, um, before that. I did other things. For another organization."

"Is that where you got red in your ledger?"

"Yeah," Nat mumbled.

"Aren't you 22 years old?"

Nat nodded.

"So when did you _start_?"

"I was...pretty young."

"Why did you do it? Join...that other organization?"

"I shouldn't be talking about this here." Or anywhere.

"No one else can hear us. I'd know." Pepper tapped her forehead. 

Nat sighed. She didn't want to tell Pepper about this, but she didn't want to keep secrets from Pepper, either. It was selfish of Nat to not let Pepper know what kind of a monster she was. "I was good at it."

"Good at what?"

"Fighting. Lying. Spying."

"How old were you?"

"Eight."

"Eighteen?"

"Eight. At the orphanage where I was raised...a boy was bothering my friend. I hit him. I...I thought I was in trouble...but I wasn't. Or I was, but not how I thought I was."

"Natasha, that's horrible. You were a child." Pepper's voice is shocked, as Nat knew she would be. Pepper was a vampire, but she wasn't vicious like Nat.

"I know, but I didn't know what else to do," Nat said sadly. She'd understand if Pepper left her now, but she'd miss her.

"...I meant the adults. It was horrible of the adults to do that to you. To...to give you that kind of training, as a child?"

"I liked it," Nat mumbled. 

Pepper stroked Nat's hand with her thumb. "What did you like?"

"I liked the training. I was good at it. I didn't--I didn't know, though…I just...they..." Pepper looked at her worriedly. Nat said, "You don't have to page Howard. I'm not incoherent from brain damage or anything. I just don't know what to say about it. I don't like to talk about it. It was a long time ago."

"Okay. You don't have to say anything else, Natasha, but thank you for telling me. I'm so sorry...I'm sorry that happened to you."

"If it hadn't, I wouldn't have met you." The words had slipped out of Nat's mouth, but she meant them.

Pepper leaned in and gave Nat a gentle, chaste kiss on the lips. 

"Pepper?"

"Yes?"

"Do you like being a vampire?"

Pepper paused before answering. Nat almost drifted back to sleep in the silence, but finally Pepper whispered, “Yes. I know I shouldn’t...but I do.”

“Why shouldn’t you? You don’t hurt anyone.”

“I don’t now...but...I have.”

“So we have something in common.”

Pepper smiled. “I suppose.”

“But you didn’t have a choice about becoming a vampire. You would have died otherwise.” Howard had told Nat about how he’d chosen people who were on the verge of death, beyond the help of modern medicine, and turned them to create his family. Pepper had nearly died in the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic.

“You didn’t have a choice either. You were eight years old.”

“I wasn’t eight years old forever.”

“And when you were older, you made a different choice.”

Nat sighed. Her bones ached. “I want to be good.”

“You _are_ good. You’re here, hurt, because you did a good thing. You risked your life to protect others from Obadiah's coven.”

“It doesn’t feel like enough.”

Pepper stroked Nat’s sweaty hair. Her cool hand felt so soothing. She said, simply, “You are enough, Natasha.”

Nat closed her eyes. Pepper sounded so confident, Nat could almost believe her.


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you sure about this?" Clint asked.

"Yes," Nat replied firmly.

"It's not too late to change your mind."

"I know."

"Well...good luck, Nat. It's been an honor to work with you."

"Likewise. But I have a feeling it won't be the last time."

"I suppose we do most of our best work at night, anyway."

"Exactly," Nat said with a fierce smile. Clint smiled back. Nat knew he was still wary about her plan, but she appreciated that he trusted her enough to let her make her own choices.

The doorbell rang. "I guess your date is here."

"I guess she is." Nat stood up from the couch, and Clint waved her back down. 

"Let me have one last dad moment," he said. "Your leg is still healing."

Nat rolled her eyes in one last teen moment. It had been a month since she'd gotten out of the hospital, and since she'd gotten home, she'd barely been allowed to do anything. Pepper had barely left her side, which Nat sort of expected, given how fragile Pepper thought all humans were. Nat should have felt smothered, but she never seemed to get tired of Pepper's company.

Clint had surprised her. Nat had grown up with an organization whose health care plan was "suck it up," and she hated showing weakness to Clint. But he had babied her as much as she'd allow him to. When Pepper wasn't there, he made sure she was eating and encouraged her to be gentle with her physical therapy. It was a little touching, but Nat hated being out of commission for so long. She couldn't wait to be rid of her frail human body.

Despite being confined to the couch for an outrageously long period of time, she'd managed to stay busy. She and Clint had worked on putting together reports that offered a convincing alternate explanation for the Stark family's activities. They decided to paint them as simply a group of harmless eccentrics with old money. They also got the local state park to blame the spate of hiker deaths on an exceptionally large bear, which had been killed by a heroic park ranger. The bear had been immediately incinerated due to potential rabies threat, so sadly no photos were available. The story didn't quite add up, but somehow it still made more sense than the truth. And it had a comforting conclusion, so everyone was pretty willing to accept it, even Director Fury. The only thing that mattered was that people of Forks would be safe from now on.

Clint and Nat were just about to sunset their cover identities and consider the mission officially closed, but first...Nat was going to prom. Weeks ago, before she'd gotten hurt, she'd gone into Port Angeles with Liz and MJ to get dresses. It was silly and pointless and had nothing to do with her mission. It had been fun, even if Liz's approach to dress shopping was exhaustingly thorough. 

But now, as Nat stood up off the couch, Pepper's reaction to seeing Nat dressed up made it worth it. Pepper gasped--which was purely performative, since she didn't actually need to breathe, but it was still flattering.

Nat's dress was black with a filmy metallic red overlay. It was knee-length and flared out, so it didn't restrict her movement. She paired it with an air cast on her broken left foot and a black Converse high top on her right foot. She'd put some effort into curling her hair and perfecting her winged eyeliner, and she knew she looked pretty damn good.

But Pepper outshone her. She wore a strapless sapphire blue gown that hugged her curves and set off her creamy skin perfectly. She paired the gown with 3-inch stiletto heels, which meant Nat barely came up to her shoulder. Her auburn hair was in an elaborate updo, exposing a diamond pendant as well as her delicate collarbone.

"You look amazing," Pepper said. She slid a red rose corsage around Nat's wrist.

"So do you."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Seems like it would be a shame to waste these dresses."

"I--I didn't mean prom. I--"

Nat pulled Pepper's face down to hers and kissed her. "I'm sure."

Clint coughed, and Nat rolled her eyes again.

"We made a very good plan, and step one is that we go to prom, where we dance with each other and say goodbye to everyone."

"Step one is fine," Pepper said. "I'm definitely in for step one."

"Okay. Then let's just take it one step at a time," Nat said. She put her arm through Pepper's and said, "Goodnight, Clint."

"Pepper, make sure to have my daughter home by midnight," Clint said sternly. Then he laughed and said, "Just kidding. She's not my daughter and I guess she's never coming home again, huh?"

"Oh, I--" Pepper said. She sounded stricken.

"Pepper! Don't listen to him. Let's go to our prom." But Nat stepped away from Pepper to give Clint one last hug. She whispered, "This isn't goodbye."

"See you around, Nat. You know how to reach me if you need anything."

Then Pepper helped her climb into the passenger seat of her old truck. Nat knew it pained Pepper to drive the beat-up old truck, but it was part of their plan. On their way home from prom, the old truck would be involved in a single-car collision. Natalie Rushman would die, and Natasha would be reborn to start a new life with Pepper and the Stark coven.

"Thank you for coming to prom with me," Pepper said. "I know this kind of event isn't your idea of fun."

"Being with you is my idea of fun. Besides, I've never been to prom before. Maybe I'll like it."

"I've never been to prom before either."

"Really? But haven't you gone to high school...several times?"

Pepper shrugged. "When I was human, high schools didn't have promenades the way they do now. And afterward...well, I suppose there was never anyone I wanted to dance with. Until now."

Nat smiled. "I'm afraid I won't be much of a dancer with this boot on. I hope I don't disappoint."

"You could never disappoint me," Pepper said firmly.

Nat had mostly been thinking of prom as an excuse to say goodbye to her human friends from the school newspaper. She felt a little guilty that they could never know the truth about what she was, and what she was about to become. They'd been so kind and welcoming to her and expected nothing in return, and she knew they'd be devastated to hear about her "death." But perhaps that would be less devastating than the knowledge that she'd been an adult woman who was using them for information--and as much as she had genuinely enjoyed spending time with them, that's what she'd been doing. 

Nat had done a lot of bad things in her short life, but mostly to people who deserved them. She'd thought that by changing sides, she could change her life. But in many regards, her new job didn't seem that different from her old one. What she really wanted was a fresh start, and soon she'd have one.

When she and Pepper walked into the hotel ballroom that hosted prom, she was surprised by how lovely it was. She'd been expecting something...sillier, more juvenile. But it was elegant, and smelled like the fresh-cut roses that were everywhere.

"Betty helped decorate," Pepper said.

"It looks amazing."

"I know, right?" Betty said. She'd appeared out of thin air, with a panicked-looking Bruce on her arm. "Nat, you look beyond gorgeous, but I can't believe you went shopping without me."

"Next time," Nat promised.

"I'm holding you to that."

"There's not going to be another prom, is there?" Bruce asked miserably. "I thought we were done with high school after this."

"Oh, no, I just meant...next time I go shopping, I'll go with Betty," Nat said.

"There are so many occasions that call for gowns, you know," Betty said. 

"Sure," Bruce said.

Betty laughed and nodded her head at the ballroom's wall of windows, overlooking a courtyard with a gazebo. She tugged Bruce's arm and said, "We're going to step outside for some air, but I just wanted to tell you both that you look lovely."

"Thanks," Nat said, and watched the two vampires gracefully make their way outside. She scanned the room and saw James and Tony dancing together in the corner, lost in each other's eyes. She smiled, but kept looking until she spotted the group she was looking for. Peter beamed and waved at her. He and his friends began crossing the dance floor toward her.

"Peter thinks you look beautiful," Pepper whispered. 

"Give him a minute, I'm sure he'll tell me that himself." Nat had a soft spot for sweet, awkward Peter, her first friend in Forks. Pepper was a bit territorial, even though they both knew that Peter was much more interested in MJ than he was in Nat.

"Just as long as he knows you're mine."

Nat rolled her eyes, although she did find Pepper's jealousy a little flattering. "He does. And I'm sure he thinks you look beautiful, too."

Pepper shrugged. Nat said, "He's a very nice boy, Pepper, and after tonight I'll never see him again."

"It's for the best," Pepper said with a sniff. Then, seeing that Nat's friends had reached human hearing distance, Pepper gave them a tight smile and nod.

"Nat! You look beautiful!" Peter enthused. "And, um, Pepper, so do you." 

"Thank you," they chorused. Pepper slid a possessive arm around Nat's waist.

"Love the shoes," MJ said to Nat.

"Thanks," Nat replied. "Is it too late to do a style feature for the paper? I think air casts are going to be the next big thing, just wait."

"Mm-hmm, yeah, I think I saw that in Vogue," Liz agreed with a bright smile. "Oh, Nat, I'm so glad you could make it tonight. We've been so worried about you since your accident!"

Nat felt a stab of guilt. She'd missed more school than was medically necessary, since she no longer needed to spy at the school. Dr. Stark had written her a very thorough note for the school. Peter and the rest of her newspaper friends had dropped by to visit fairly regularly, keeping her caught up with school gossip that she didn't really care about anymore. Still, they were very sweet. She hoped to hurt them as little as possible.

She said, "Of course, I wouldn't miss it. I'm so glad I got to know you guys this year. I...I wasn't sure about starting over in Forks, but this has been my best year of high school." They didn't need to know that it was her only year of high school.

"Aww," Liz said. "That's so sweet."

"It's kind of out of character, to be honest. Are you feeling okay?" MJ asked drily.

Nat laughed. "They gave me the good painkillers, I guess they're just making me feel sentimental."

"Maybe it's the ambiance, not the painkillers," Liz said.

"It's a potent combination," Nat said.

The DJ played a slow song. Nat didn't know it, but she said, "Oh, I love this song. Peter, do you want to dance with me?"

Peter blushed and Pepper dug her nails into Nat's shoulder. "Um, sure, if--if that's okay?" Peter asked, glancing between Nat and Pepper.

"Of course it's okay. Just don't expect any fancy moves out of me," Nat said. She put her arms around Peter and they swayed gently. Next to her, Ned and Liz danced. MJ started taking photos of awkward couples, and Pepper went outside to join her siblings.

"I just wanted to say, I'm so glad the school assigned you as my welcome guide back in the fall," she said, and meant it.

"Aww, me too," Peter said.

"And...after this, you should ask MJ to dance."

"Really?"

"Definitely."

"Okay! I mean...yeah!"

After the song ended, Nat pulled Peter's face down to hers and gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek. Then she walked outside to find Pepper, who was standing alone in the gazebo, looking like a model posing for a portrait. Joining her in gazing out over the railing, Nat noticed Betty and Bruce dancing in the far corner of the courtyard, as far away from everyone else as they could possibly be without actually leaving the event. Bruce looked much more relaxed than he had been inside the ballroom, and Betty was transcendent under the moonlight.

"Ugh, now you smell like him," Pepper complained.

"He smelled fine," Nat said. "He wears way less Axe than most of the other boys."

"Still."

"Well, it's the last time you'll have that problem," Nat said.

Pepper smiled and put her arms around Nat. "That's true. But first, may I have this dance?"

"You may have every dance. Just keep in mind, I'm normally _much_ better at this."

"I can tell. You always move like a dancer, even now, with the boot."

They spent the rest of the night out in the gazebo, dancing with each other, as best as Nat's clumsy air cast boot allowed. Nat almost didn't want the night to end...but she was too excited for what would happen next.

They stayed until the very end of prom, when the lights came back on and the chaperones started awkwardly making sure everyone was safe to drive. Nat gave her friends goodnight hugs and cheerfully told them she wasn't going to the school-sponsored After-Prom event, but she'd see them at school on Monday. Then she climbed into her truck one last time.

"We really don't have to do this now," Pepper said. "There's no rush. I'll wait forever for you."

"I want to do this now," Nat said. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I choose this. I choose you." She knew her decision must seem abrupt, especially to someone who'd been around for over a hundred years, but Nat had learned to trust her gut. She knew what she wanted, and what she wanted was Pepper. Forever. Everything else would work itself out.

Pepper nodded. "Very well," she said. "I won't miss this truck at _all_."

Working together, they efficiently faked Natalie's death on one of the winding roads leading toward the Stark house. It would be a clear-cut case, the kind of tragedy that happened on prom nights all across the country, a tired, maybe-drunk teen driver lost control of her car after a long night. She texted Clint one last time and destroyed her phone, now a literal burner. Then Pepper, still in her stilettos and gown, carried Nat back up to the Stark house. Inside, she carefully deposited Nat on the elegant chaise in Pepper's bedroom and sat down beside her.

Pepper reached down to run her fingers lightly across Nat's air cast. "Soon, you won't need this."

"Oh, right."

"The venom will heal everything. When Howard turned James, his spine was shattered, and now look at him."

"Hmm. Maybe we should have done this last month."

"But then we couldn't have gone to prom." Nat had been warned that it would take her some time to adjust to her new life as a vampire, and she wouldn't be able to safely be around humans for months, if not years. Nat had no problem with that; given all her training, she wasn't sure if it had ever really been safe for her to be around humans, anyway.

Nat smiled and pulled Pepper in for a kiss. "You're right. This is perfect."

"You're sure you don't want Howard to change you? He's the professional," Pepper said. "I've never done this before."

They'd been through this. "No. I want it to be you. I trust you."

"I--if I don't stop in time--"

"You will," Nat said firmly. 

Pepper stroked Nat's cheek. "It--it will hurt."

"I know, you've told me. I can handle pain, Pepper. It'll be worth it."

Pepper kissed her on the lips and let her hands roam Nat's body. "Where do you want me to do it?"

"Isn't the throat traditional?" Nat asked, and tipped her head back in offering.

"Yes, and you do have such a lovely throat," Pepper said, running her thumb along the hollow of Nat's throat. Then she pulled Nat's hand up to her face and delicately sniffed the rose corsage that was still on her wrist. "But the wrist is good, too." She gently traced a finger around the corsage's lacy wristband. "Or…" She gently pushed Nat down on her back and hiked her skirt up above her waist, revealing the lacy black lingerie Nat had on underneath. Pepper caressed Nat's inner thigh and said, "Or there's the femoral artery…here…"

Nat gasped. "Whatever you want, Pepper, please…"

"I love you, Natasha," Pepper said, and sank her fangs into Nat's thigh. Nat's body flooded with endorphins. She felt like she was floating. She reached out and tangled her hand in Pepper's soft hair, mussing her perfect updo. Then she felt the burning start, as the vampire venom began to flow through her bloodstream. 

Natasha took her final breath as a human and moaned, "I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Specific warnings (including spoilers for this story):
> 
> I warned for implied/referenced child abuse for a brief discussion of a backstory for Nat that's pretty close to what was shown/implied for her in the MCU.
> 
> There's also some vampire violence that I think is pretty in line with the PG-13 vampirism of the _Twilight_ saga, including a hospital scene where Nat has been badly injured in vampire combat. Some people die--a variety of unnamed hikers, as well as the bad vampires.
> 
> And finally--Pepper does bite Nat, in order to transform her into a vampire.
> 
> Also--just since I personally, as a grown person reading about sexy teen vampires, am always a little weirded out by the ages in the _Twilight_ saga--for the record, here Nat is 22 and Pepper was 18 when she was turned into a vampire. (Now she's 108, but hey, Nat's an old soul.)


End file.
